Taichung prosecutors yesterday indicted three people on charges of fraud for allegedly passing off watches assembled in Taiwan as Swiss-made timepieces and earning NT$400 million (US$12.4 million) in illicit gains.
The Taichung branch office of the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau said in a statement that the group, headed by Mei Hua Precision Industry Co (梅華精密) and Laora Trading Co (仁徠貿易) manager Yang Hung-pin (楊鴻斌), had purchased the rights to use the Swiss trademark Ogival years ago and from November 2006 to December 2020 sold 26,282 counterfeit watches in department stores and online platforms in Taiwan.
The branch office said they received a tip from watch enthusiasts that three timepieces of the same make, purchased at different times, had the same import duty number. The seller at the time accused the watch enthusiasts of slander and threatened legal action.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung branch office of the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau
After contacting the Swiss government to provide the production serial numbers and the time of production from Ogival, the branch office found that Yang had imported the watch movements from Switzerland, but the etching “Swiss made” on the backplates was done locally.
While Yang imported some select components from Switzerland, the majority of the components were locally sourced and assembled, the branch office said.
Yang also instructed employees to include duty-paid certification to complete the masquerade that the watches were assembled and imported from abroad, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung branch office of the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau
A search of 14 locations, including Yang’s residence and company headquarters, in April last year found assemblers at the company putting the watches together, a list of watches assembled in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and 2,963 assembled watches branded as Ogival products, which had an estimated market value of NT$152 million, it said.
Prosecutors also seized six real-estate plots, valued at more than NT$100 million, that Yang owns.
As it is hard to discern whether a watch is authentic or counterfeit, prosecutors urged people to look closely at the documentation certifying product origin when they purchase luxury watches.
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